Greenwich SPI scores show achievement gap

Paul Schott

Updated 10:38 pm, Thursday, December 5, 2013

School performance index scores released Thursday by the state Department of Education show a significant achievement gap among the Greenwich district's students, with five schools earning honors for high performance and four missing SPI targets.

Based on a 100-point scale, SPI scores comprise averages of all students' Connecticut Mastery Test and Connecticut Academic Performance Test results across all tested subjects in 2013. Greenwich reached its state-set performance targets for CMT and CAPT performance at a district level, while 11 of its 15 schools reached their overall SPI goals.

Eastern Middle School, The International School at Dundee, Greenwich High School, North Mianus School and Riverside School were cited as Schools of Distinction for strong performance by the whole school or a student group. But Hamilton Avenue, Julian Curtiss, New Lebanon and Western Middle schools each missed their overall SPI targets.

"We expected what's here," said Superintendent of Schools William McKersie. "This underscores that we've got a number of the best schools in the state from a testing standpoint. We have no schools in the lower ranks, and we do have some schools that are transitioning. That is because we are an increasingly diverse district."

The SPIs point to an entrenched trend of disparate test scores in the district, which separate performance along socio-economic, racial and ethnic and linguistic proficiency lines. Greenwich has a districtwide achievement gap, according to a performance indicator that compares overall scores to those of schools' black students, Hispanic students, English language learners, students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunches and students with disabilities. Districtwide, the difference between a majority of those groups' SPIs and the district's overall performance index of 89.3 for CMT performance totals more than 10 points, resulting in the gap designation.

Julian Curtiss, Central Middle School, Western and Greenwich High have intraschool achievement gaps, according to the same metric.

Greenwich's school SPIs range from a district low of 72.7 at Hamilton Avenue to a high of 96.6 at Riverside.

The state classifies students qualifying for discounted lunches, ELL students and students with disabilities as "high needs" students. The student populations at Hamilton Avenue, Julian Curtiss, New Lebanon and Western include large numbers of these pupils. Each receives federal Title I funding, which goes to schools with high counts of low-income students.

District officials argue that they are cognizant of the achievement gap and that addressing that gulf comprises one of their top priorities. McKersie's proposed 2014-15 budget allocates $650,000 to raise student achievement at the Title I schools.

"There should be no relationship between economic status and how well you do in school," said John Curtin, the district's special projects manager. "For us, that gap in achievement is a major focus. We need to make sure that every kid has an equal opportunity to achieve."

All district schools placed within one of the state's top three school classification categories, which are based on test scores and high-school graduation rates. Glenville, ISD, North Mianus, North Street, Old Greenwich, Parkway, Riverside and Eastern reached the top level, "Excelling," which refers to schools that achieved all SPI targets. As a prerequisite to attain that level, all of those schools scored an SPI of 88.0 or better. That number refers to the state's long-term goal for every district and school because it would indicate a district or school's students reaching the "goal" level on a majority of tests.

Cos Cob and Central's results qualified them for the second tier, "Progressing." Cos Cob recorded an overall SPI of 86.7, while Central's totaled 89.5 overall.

Hamilton Avenue, Julian Curtiss, New Lebanon, Western Middle and Greenwich High schools ranked in the third tier, "Transitioning."

District officials attribute Greenwich High's classification to a graduation rate of 92.5 percent, which fell below its target of 94.0 percent. But the district used the high school's 2011-12 graduation rate, not its 2012-13 rate of 94.8 percent, which was not available in time for the calculation of Greenwich's 2013 SPI numbers.

"As good as these accountability systems are, they don't necessarily measure very fine differences," Curtin said. "Unfortunately, the high school is a shade below on a couple of measures and that's why it's classified as Transitional."

Greenwich High posted an overall SPI of 87.8, compared to an 86.5 target. Neighboring high schools' overall SPIs include Darien High School, 93.0; Brien McMahon High School, 72.9; Norwalk High School, 68.7; New Canaan High School, 94.1; Stamford High School, 64.1, and Westhill High School, 70.6.

The state recognized Greenwich High as a "School of Distinction," recording the state's highest SPI for CAPT performance for English language-learner students among non-Title I schools.

Eastern Middle, North Mianus, ISD and Riverside each earned Distinction status for overall performance. In addition to notching SPIs exceeding more than 88, the SPIs for a majority of those schools' subgroups totaled within 10 SPI points of overall SPIs. ISD also earned a Distinction citation for "Highest Progress" on CMTs among schools that have reached the 88.0 overall SPI threshold. ISD's overall SPI of 95.5 this year compares to a score of 94.3 in 2012.

The state awarded "Distinction" status to a total of 73 schools in Connecticut.

Greenwich Board of Education members were not available before press time to comment on the SPI results.

This year's SPI scores reflect an accountability system instituted last year after the state in May 2012 received a waiver from several requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. State and district officials praise the new framework as better assessing student performance and offering more support to schools and districts than the federal model, which was criticized a number of educators for being overtly punitive. In a key change, the state's system pegs standardized test achievement to the goal level as opposed to the lower echelon of "proficient" that anchored the federal paradigm.

"We are a supporter of this new accountability system because it looks at growth and student performance," McKersie said. "It lets districts distinguish among schools and within schools as to how we're doing overall. The gold standard is growth and change over time, and this index system does a pretty good of getting at all of that."

State education officials calculated SPI targets based on averages of SPI data from the previous three years. Greenwich's overall district performance index for CMT performance totaled 90.2 last year, 88.7 in 2011 and 89.2 in 2010.

Based on 2012-13 CMT and CAPT data, slightly more than half of Connecticut's schools met their overall performance targets.

This year marks the last time the state will calculate Greenwich's SPI numbers based on CMT and CAPT scores in English language-arts and mathematics. The district in spring of 2014 will implement "field test" versions of Common Core State Standards-aligned assessments in those subjects developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

With no baseline data yet available for the new exams, the state will not set SPI targets next year for SBAC results. But Greenwich will still face performance index goals for science, a subject for which the state will continue, in the near future at least, to administer CMT and CAPT exams in grades 5, 8 and 10.

"As quantitative measures go, this is a good index," McKersie added. "But there's so much more to effective schools than these numbers tell us. Eight schools in excelling, in any of those eight we still have to ask `Are you truly excelling?' Numbers alone don't make you the school that you are."